Why Working Luxury Retail Is Hard... But Not: A Reflection on Customer Experience at David Yurman

If store experience were
limited to presentation and display,
DY would be flying high.

Author's Note: I have worked in food service for six years, retail for seven, and luxury retail for three. Though I now work in the non-profit sector and tend to write from a customer perspective, I feel my experience in the industry balances my point of view and allows for credible, fair journalism on my part.

I've had some really just terrible customer service experiences at David Yurman (like at their Chicago boutique on Oak St., which I used to hold in high regard). I've also had some day- and memory-making experiences at DY, interactions so fulfilling that they approached transcendence.

Neither variety of experience should altogether surprise me, really. Having made so very many visits to so many boutiques over the years, I should expect encounters that run the gamut, right? But here's the problem: For reasons I'll soon detail, I don't expect nor excuse, for that matter, the approaching-poor service experiences that crop up all too often throughout the year at certain retail locations (problem stores, I call them) and at nigh-all brick-and-mortars during certain times of the year (cue the sleigh bells).

At problem David Yurman stores and at Christmastime, subpar customer experience tends to be the rule rather than the exception, for reasons that are too often unacceptable in their needlessness, stemming from poor shopper impression and negative employee service dispositions.

SHOPPER IMPRESSIONS ARE MADE FAST BUT WITH LASTING EFFECT.

According to Roberts (2004), product impressions tend to be made in under three seconds. The same likely can also be said of store impressions. A positive David Yurman boutique impression starts with a doorman's welcome that is followed quickly by a salesperson's warm greeting. A negative DY boutique impression starts with an unresponsive doorman and finishes with salesperson neglect. Sure, ambiance and sensory touches have an effect, but it tends to be instant and predictably good. (DY's merchandising is seldom anything but masterful.) 

And so, as is so often the case, the make-or-break aspect is an altogether human one, hinging on two basic questions: One, was there a doorman, and did he open the door? And two, are sales associates floor aware and willing offer acknowledgement, full or casual, to new shoppers? Yes, from my experience, it all comes down to that--quick and warm personnel interaction--which, really, makes lapses in impression-making all the more egregious (because, really, how hard is a 'Hi, and welcome'?).

NEGATIVE IMPRESSIONS HARDEN INTO SERVICE INCIDENTS WHEN THE SALESFLOOR REMAINS COLD AND INDIFFERENT OR, WORSE, BECOMES SUPERIOR.

When I worked in luxury retail, I endeavored every day to remind myself I was an agent of one of the world's most prestigious, aspirational brands, which meant, like it or not, I would be held to a very high standard. Simultaneously I would call to mind that beneath all of the affectations and posturing people are people, and everyone deserves to be treated with dignity, presence, and  respect.

The service representative who consistently fails to deliver service is an individual who should be nudged, perhaps forcibly, into another line of work. The boutique whose collective staff consistently fails to deliver service is a boutique whose management practices are in need of an audit.

Incredulity creeps up anytime I have a poor customer experience in a high-end boutique (be the brand DY, Tom Ford, Bottega Veneta--whatever) as really, even on an individual or team's worst day, smiles can be feigned and egos kept in check. Too often, though, at problem stores and Christmastime, poor service professional behavior prevails as staff seem to forget that while they cannot control sales goals, customer demands, and corporate mandates, they can control their reactions, authentically or, if need be, artificially. At the end of the day, it is employee perspective that drives customer perspective. To my friends, acquaintances, and, yes, antagonists in luxury retail, I issue a plea. Be mindful of the fact that work is work, expectations are high--it's the nature of the upscale beast--and providing service is not just a key occupational duty and hazard but a brand- and livelihood-sustaining imperative.

So David Yurman Chicago (and all other problem stores or Yuletide-weary sales professionals), say it with me: 'Hello and welcome. We're happy that you're here. You matter.'

It's OK some days not to mean it. It's not OK not to say it all the same.

With hard love,
DYguy

What Can't Come Quickly Enough

The store's usually-enticing displays
looked, on this visit, a little rough.

This weekend brought, among others things, a trip to the David Yurman Chicago boutique on Oak Street. While my visit was, overall, a positive one (is it ever not?), it was also, unfortunately, an unremarkable one in three ways, which I will now enumerate below. These are, officially, The Three Things That Can't Come Quickly Enough:

1. Removal of Bündchen, Posting of Upton (or Menghia... or Mali or Hemingway)
Hasn't Fall 2013 launched? Why is an oversize Gisele still featured to the left of the store's front doors? Don't get me wrong; I love the model and her work for DY, but that image is from the Fall 2012 campaign. Out with the old. In with the new, right?

2. Demotion of Griffin Collection
Yes, I solemnly declare I seek the withdrawment of the Griffin line. I've now inspected thoroughly most of the rings in the collection and can say they are as I've all along thought--that is, average at best. Being such, they should not occupy a half of a display case (as they presently do), not in a boutique with only four men's collection cases! According to the sales professional with whom I spoke, the designs are only selling "OK" due to their being crafted for a "very specific customer" and having not all the "kinks [in design] worked out." Enough is enough, I say. Feature one piece--my vote goes to the red jasper signet ring--and place the rest in back stock.

3. Release of New Men's Product
Part of me really believed F/W pieces had debuted, just not online. That part of me was wrong. There are, at this time, no new men's arrivals in the DY boutiques either. And so we continue to wait. I've heard rumblings of a mid-September release. As always, I'll keep you posted.

That's all for now. DYguy over and out.

Boutique Profile: David Yurman Chicago

On a quiet street in a celebrated historic neighborhood lies, unassumingly, the city's David Yurman boutique, whose product selection is great and customer service (newly) unparalleled. I visited the site twice on my last visit to Chicago. Read below for my impressions.

The somewhat subtle boutique storefront

Boutique Details

Address: 40 East Oak Street
Established: 2007
Hours: Monday-Saturday 10-6, Sunday 12-5
Telephone: 312.787.7779
Men's Collection Showcases: 4 (5 including timepieces)
Number of Service Representatives on the Floor: 3-5
DYguy's Favorite Staff: Nina C and Diana B

What Was of Positive Note

Much-Improved Customer Service

In past visits to the boutique, the levels of customer service experienced were inconsistent. I am happy to report this seems a resolved issue. Staff--I interacted with four--were knowledgeable, approachable, and, perhaps most important, legitimately helpful. When I took interest in a product, said product was quickly offered to me as were other complementary pieces. If a ring or bracelet appeared not to fit, the representative with whom I was working made haste to locate, if possible, additional available sizes. I was never made to feel as I did when I called the store in late '12--a burden, an obstacle. No, these were salespeople who were sincerely happy to help, and if that were not, in actuality, the case, if it were all a show, well consider me fooled (albeit happily, willingly so).

The boutique is located on Oak
St., one of the most prestigious
shopping lanes in the city.

Extensive Men's Inventory

Four display cases. Of men's jewelry. I was in heaven. What's more, what's there is put, as tends to be the case with David Yurman, on exquisite display. The cases are not just product repositories. They are, truly, nigh works of art that have to be seen to be believed. The placement of each piece in relation to others as well as the case itself is, without question, deliberate. Yes, to call the spatial arrangements exact would be, despite the absoluteness of that claim, a form of understatement. Oh, and in case you are wondering, the themes of the cases, in order from front of store to back, are (1) Exotic Stone, (2) Armory, (3) Diamond- and Gemstone-Encrusted, and (4) Ironwood (le yuck)-cum-Royal Cord.

What Was of Negative Note

Use of Tacky Dell Laptop and Presence of OMG-Bad Chairs

When purchases are processed on the sales floor, staff use a plasticky, what-looks-entry-level Dell laptop whose appearance almost offends the eye. Needless to say, its profanity does not mesh well with the store's otherwise almost impeccable aesthetic.

Note I said "almost." Whoever selected for purchase those belong-in-an-'80s-boudoir, pinkish-mauve sitting chairs positioned just beyond the store's entrance needs... well... a stern talking to as they are not luxury, not sophisticated--indeed--not even tasteful. No, they are just plain bad, and in a store that is otherwise so good--dangerously good, in fact--in taste, their presence is all the more erring.

Have you been to the David Yurman boutique on Oak St. in Chicago? What has been your experience there? Did I get anything wrong in this profile? (Don't even tell me you find those chairs agreeable.) Sound off; post a comment or shoot me an E-mail.